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

[Tekkie.X]

And yet has far better compatibility with most older games than Vista and 7 put together.

[arew264]

Hey XP is about to be 2 generations old... time to move on ppl... :p

You'd be surprised how many people just refuse to upgrade to Vista, and 7 isn't out yet. Entire schools and businesses are still using XP.

It's the most stable and trouble free OS Microsoft has come up with so far.

[obesebear]

It's the most stable and trouble free OS Microsoft has come up with so far.

Debatable.  Try 7.  You'd be surprised how great it really is.

[DLPB_]

I went back to XP.

Reasons:

Vista incompatibility with some of my programs and devices
Vista slow with some of my games and also had problems with Aalis driver + fraps.
Vista bloated and eats up all your harddisk space
Vista resource hog.  Compare the recommended system specs for XP and Vista and you will see why
Update service for Vista is awful.  Every little update takes ages.

It looks good but that is all it beats XP on imho.  I have made a bare bones XP installer from my disc and a fresh install takes less than 1.5 GB.

I will be skipping Windows 7 too, windows needs to totally overhaul.  MS need to release 1 new OS that is totally new and that has moved on.  64 bit , no registry for program "installs" (use ini or similar system).    Until they do that I have no problem sticking with XP for at least another 5 years.

[arew264]

It's the most stable and trouble free OS Microsoft has come up with so far.

Debatable.  Try 7.  You'd be surprised how great it really is.

Try Linux. I haven't run Windows on any of my computers since before Vista came out. This is just what I hear and what I see from working on other computers.

[gigaherz]

Omfg..... some dude asks about ogl vs dx, and WE END UP IN A VISTA VS XP VS LINUX WAR! Xd

I know ppl who used linux, then tried vista and decided it was better.
I know ppl who used xp, then tried vista and hated it so much they switched to linux.
I know ppl who used xp, tried vista but couldnt' get usedto it, then went back to xp, but finally decided to try vista again and they realizedi t's not rly so bad at all.

I have been using Vista x64 for over 2 years and what I have to say is:
 - It does take more HDD space than XP, but with over 1.5Tb of HDD space in my pc, I don't care.
 - It does use more RAM than XP, but given I have 6Gb in my pc, I don't care.
 - Some apps and games do fail to work with Vista, but in MOST of the cases it's because those apps use the API calls in ways which weren't supposed to work, and which Vista fixed.
 - Many devices from before vista was released don't have x64 drivers. I had to buy a new scanner, and new printer, and new webcam, but  I can't really complain, given they all were over 10 years old. I think the money I spent on them was already worth it years before I got the new PC with Vista on it.

On a side note: there are some benchmarks of xp vs vista vs win7, and in cheap/old PCs, win7 wins over vista, and gets really close to XP, beating it sometimes. Microsoft just forgot some of their users would want to use Vista in low-end (or old) computers.

[arew264]

Omfg..... some dude asks about ogl vs dx, and WE END UP IN A VISTA VS XP VS LINUX WAR! Xd

I know ppl who used linux, then tried vista and decided it was better.
I know ppl who used xp, then tried vista and hated it so much they switched to linux.
I know ppl who used xp, tried vista but couldnt' get usedto it, then went back to xp, but finally decided to try vista again and they realizedi t's not rly so bad at all.

I have been using Vista x64 for over 2 years and what I have to say is:
 - It does take more HDD space than XP, but with over 1.5Tb of HDD space in my pc, I don't care.
 - It does use more RAM than XP, but given I have 6Gb in my pc, I don't care.
 - Some apps and games do fail to work with Vista, but in MOST of the cases it's because those apps use the API calls in ways which weren't supposed to work, and which Vista fixed.
 - Many devices from before vista was released don't have x64 drivers. I had to buy a new scanner, and new printer, and new webcam, but  I can't really complain, given they all were over 10 years old. I think the money I spent on them was already worth it years before I got the new PC with Vista on it.

On a side note: there are some benchmarks of xp vs vista vs win7, and in cheap/old PCs, win7 wins over vista, and gets really close to XP, beating it sometimes. Microsoft just forgot some of their users would want to use Vista in low-end (or old) computers.

Microsoft forgets a lot of things that I could expound on, but we should get back on topic. We all use different OSs for different reasons, and I doubt any of us are going to change based on a forum argument.

[polaris_027]

okay vista is great and so is xp, and so is linux.

NOW MOVING BACK TO THE TOPIC

ive got a problem. ff7music doesn't play any music at all when i installed this patch. any solution?

[Curlyoxide]

Did you go in the config file and remove the # next to music_plugin = plugins/ff7music.fgp?

[polaris_027]

what are you saying? should i delete that entire line?

# plugins
# a movie plugin is required, the music plugin is optional, but required to make FF7Music work
movie_plugin = plugins/ffmpeg_movies.fgp
#music_plugin = plugins/ff7music.fgp

can you be more specific please?

[Curlyoxide]

just remove # next to #music_plugin = plugins/ff7music.fgp
that enables it once you remove the # so it looks like this
music_plugin = plugins/ff7music.fgp instead of this
#music_plugin = plugins/ff7music.fgp

[Aali]

Curlyoxide: No fix for that issue yet, but if you find any game-breaking issues with the FF7Music plugin please report it.

gigaherz: The source is technically available on request, but not in a form that compiles directly (partly because of some sensitive stuff, partly because I don't want to see any modified clones released). Oh and to be honest, "porting" it to D3D is just a massive waste of time, OpenGL is superior in every single way.

[Curlyoxide]

Ah ok thanks... no problem it really isn't like you said game-breaking lol just wanted to make sure it wasn't just me. Outstanding work none the less  the driver keeps getting better.

[LeeHiOoO]

Aali, if I may... you seem to have missed my question back there...   

Aali nice job! Just wondering... will that direct mode for lpg files be implemented in ff8 driver as well? I mean, for the .fi .fs .fl files ?
Would be awesome!

[gigaherz]

gigaherz: The source is technically available on request, but not in a form that compiles directly (partly because of some sensitive stuff, partly because I don't want to see any modified clones released). Oh and to be honest, "porting" it to D3D is just a massive waste of time, OpenGL is superior in every single way.

I fail to see any superiority in ogl, but I'd rather not start a war here. :p
If you prefer not to share the src, or can't, it's ok. All I wanted was something "fun" to do this week, never pretended to make anything useful out of it anyhow. :p
Hell the way I am, even if you did share the src, I'd probably never get it working anyhow. I tend to get bored as soon as I get stuck somewhere for more than a few minutes.

As for releasing modified clones... well I'm rly not that kind of person, but you wouldn't know. All I did around here was some tiny little contribution to qgears (when it was still meant to be a ff7.exe replacement and not a generic engine :p)

Anyhow all I'm/was interested in would be the how to interface with ff7 engine, and decode/parse the file formats. If that's where the sensitive stuff is, and lacking it would make me do too much reverse-engineering work to recreate it, then nevermind. I don't have the patience to do reverse-engineering work myself.

[Makubex (Mendelevium)]

On my Windows XP

System Specs:
512MB Ram
Geforce Nvidia 5500 Graphic card
Dual Core processor


Both the graphics drivers for FF7 and FF8
cause it to run at such a low rate.. like the opening movie that usually takes like a minute.. takes 20 and its still going.
O.O

the thing is...
this doesn't occur when i use Saint's Hi-Res patch
or the FF8 Launcher.. that lets you set the resolution..
so i am assuming it has something to do with your drivers Aali.
Do you have any idea what is causing this.
Because, I would love to play, and mod my FF7 and FF8 games, at the computer i work at during the day.
(no not WORK.. work.. just, where i spend most of my day..XD)

Any suggestions?

[Curlyoxide]

Whats your setup in the cfg file? You enable post-processing? that slows it down.Did you try turning the shaders off just to see if that helps performance wise?
Also the obvious make sure you have up-to-date video drivers

[Makubex (Mendelevium)]

i am not sure.
I will get you that info soon..
it all depends, if i get to my PC tonight..
I am on my vista right now.
 

[Mindrip]

Hey Peeps

Im running a advent qt5500 laptop with intel chipset. ive download the masterpeice of Aalis custom graphics driver. i have it all up and running smooth with the npc patch. but one little thing is bugging me. i have ff7 running on 1280x800 ress. but ive noticed when im in battle the magic/ sword skills all look pretty plain. i.e really dull lack of colour. blurry etc. now im sure i remeber playing ff7 years ago on the old school 3d graphics cards, and all the spell effects looked sharp and really colourfull. i have played around with ff7config and makes no differnce if its on direct 3d or software render. i also have a error about my graphics card dosent support 8bit textures npot from the custom graphics driver. unless that is wat my problem is. so please is there anyone out there who can help me out with this problem. or just tell me im getting it all wrong and im seeing wat i should be seeing. Im using the intel graphics chipset so no nvidia or ati. thanks so much peeps ^^

mindrip.

[Aali]

First of all, open up app.log (in your FF7 install dir) and paste the first 10 or so lines here.

You should not start FF7Config after installing the driver or you'll have to import the .reg file again.
Don't worry about any of the graphics settings in FF7Config, they're either overridden or ignored with this driver.

[Curlyoxide]

do you have the lastest video drivers for the laptop? that intel chipset is a pain.

[Mindrip]

Hey peeps Thanks For Your Reply

I have all the latest intel drivers, and like you said the chipset is a pain in the behinde. ive been up all night trying to crack this but just no joy wat so ever. from wat i can make out it keeps dropping my opengl, 3d render back to software. im running out of idears not sure wat else to try. it stands as a fresh install. patch 1.02, aalis masterpeice, and the npc patch, ress 1280x800. I have also had a play with all the intel graphic settings and dosent seem to make any differnce atall. app.log as follows.

If you could have a go at working your magic on this peeps i will be most gratefull. ^^

INFO: Auto-detected version: FF7 1.02 US English
INFO: FFMpeg movie player plugin loaded
INFO: FFMpeg version SVN-r19334, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
INFO: Intel Intel 945GM 1.4.0 - Build 7.14.10.4926
INFO: No OpenGL 2.0 support detected, shaders won't be available
INFO: Found swap_control extension
INFO: Original resolution 640x480, window size 1280x800, output resolution 1280x800, internal resolution 1280x480
INFO: No NPOT texture support
ERROR: init_indirect failed, scaling and postprocessing will be disabled
INFO: internal resolution clamped to 1280x800
LOCK UNLOCK TEST
MATRIX INITIALIZE
INITIALIZE DD/D3D END

Many thanks Mindrip xD

[arew264]

Both the graphics drivers for FF7 and FF8
cause it to run at such a low rate.. like the opening movie that usually takes like a minute.. takes 20 and its still going.
O.O

the thing is...
this doesn't occur when i use Saint's Hi-Res patch
or the FF8 Launcher.. that lets you set the resolution..
so i am assuming it has something to do with your drivers Aali.
Do you have any idea what is causing this.
Because, I would love to play, and mod my FF7 and FF8 games, at the computer i work at during the day.
(no not WORK.. work.. just, where i spend most of my day..XD)

Any suggestions?

It sounds like you don't have proper OpenGL drivers installed and Windows is using software rendering instead. Because DirectX is there, TheSaint's patch and standard FF8 will work normally.
What graphics card do you have, and have you tried installing the latest drivers?

[Curlyoxide]

You have these current drivers for your laptop mindrip?

[myk]

Hrm, I got ff7 installed and running in wine with the ff7_opengl-0.7b driver, but when I start it, all I see is a blank screen.  Hitting a few buttons brings up the [NEW GAME] [CONTINUE] menu with the sword in the background, but selecting [NEW GAME] just displays a black screen.  APP.LOG is created, but is 0 length.  Also, I notice that the game runs at 640x480, even though I set it to 1920x1200 in the ff7_opengl.cfg file.  Am I doing something wrong?