Author Topic: FF7 Messed up graphics topic #31984738197319 (Read 11768 times)

TongitzKing · « **on:** 2002-03-01 03:54:00 »

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/bebop1020/untitled1.jpg

now how do you fix that?

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-5AA / 5AX
Processor: AMD K6-2 550mhz
Memory: 256 MB 100mhz SDRAM
Hard Drive: 40 GB Western Digital
Video Card: Creative TnT2 Value 16 MB
Drivers: I've tried Det 6.50; 23.11; 21.81; Am currently using 12.41
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live 5.1
OS: Windows98 SE
DirectX: 8.1

If that will help....

I've searched all over the web for someone with this kind of problem but I've either missed it or it's just me. As shown in the picture there is a grid of visible lines on the screen. I wouldn't mind if that was it but after a few more minutes of playing, the game crashes to the desktop. I've installed the TnT Patch for FF7 and that also only happens when I set the settings to "Renderer: Direct3D Hardware Acceleration" and "Display resolution: 640 x 480 16bpp (full screen)." If I set it to something else than the game runs slower (too slow for me) and doesn't look as good (well, taking out the grid of lines yes). I've installed FF8 and got it working if that helps any. If you need anymore information please ask. So anyway, can you help me? (you guys were able to help me get FF8 to work so... why not this?

)

and thanx

[edited] 137 2002-03-01 04:58

Sephiroth 3D · « **Reply #1 on:** 2002-03-01 05:09:00 »

I've actually had this this problem myself when I tried using my GF2-compatible.

The solution I found was this "Turn off anti-aliasing". It's that simple. Until / If Fice or someone can ever get around to hacking / patching FF7 so the backgrounds aren't anti-aliased, this is the only solution I know of.

Edit: BTW: Nice subject title.

Sephiroth 3D

"I don't understand..." "You don't have to understand." - Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Sephiroth 3D.com
[email protected]
[edited] 135 2002-03-01 06:10

TongitzKing · « **Reply #2 on:** 2002-03-01 22:35:00 »

Sorry, that didn't work. But I don't think my card supports it cause I can't find an option for it anywhere (in rivatuner and display properties at least).

Sephiroth 3D · « **Reply #3 on:** 2002-03-01 22:39:00 »

Hmm... well AA was the cause I had for that same problem. Do look through everything cause those Det drivers do support it. It may be some kind of evil hidden switch.

Sorry I couldn't help more.

Sephiroth 3D

"I don't understand..." "You don't have to understand." - Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Sephiroth 3D.com
[email protected]

Goku7 · « **Reply #4 on:** 2002-03-01 23:20:00 »

Uhmm....

You might have to edit the registry to get the FSAA menu to appear. I remember reading that in one of the back issues of Computer Gaming World magazine.

Don't remember how to do it offhand, though.......

TongitzKing · « **Reply #5 on:** 2002-03-01 23:56:00 »

Well I downloaded a program called NVAA and FSAA was already disabled. So I re-disabled it and tried out FF7 again, but it's still the same. I've also tried using DirectX 7 but that didn't work either. I'll try DirectX 5 then.

And if all else fails.... Does anyone know how to make FF7 run faster in Software Rendering Mode? :weep:

Thanx

phaeron · « **Reply #6 on:** 2002-03-02 03:20:00 »

Those look like texel alignment errors -- FF7 is apparently drawing the background tiles with filtering off, and a subtexel bias is causing the blits to be off by a pixel and pick up pixels from adjacent tiles. Experiment with the texel center control in the Direct3D properties for your Detonators -- try the 0 and 7 settings. Direct3D places texels at half-integer coordinates (center), but for some reason the Detonators don't always default to that.

TongitzKing · « **Reply #7 on:** 2002-03-02 17:44:00 »

Wow, thank you very much phaeron. Your suggestion worked!

I had it originally set to 7 because it said so in the FF8 readme (or somewhere), but I set it to 3 and FF8 and FF7 work fine. BUT! After 5-10 minutes of playing FF7 on Direct3D Hardware Acceleration it crashes (illegal operation). And after about a half an hour of playing with Software Rendering on it crashes (illegal operation). I don't know if it's because I set the Texel Alignment to 3 because I've never really played FF7 for more than a half an hour before. ;

Well anyway, thanx for the help.

EDIT: It just crashes randomly now O_o...

[edited] 137 2002-03-03 19:11

TongitzKing · « **Reply #8 on:** 2002-03-07 18:33:00 »

Bla bla, These are the illegal operations I get. If that helps....

FF7 caused an invalid page fault in
module FF7.EXE at 018f:006ccb04.
Registers:
EAX=0284c2c2 CS=018f EIP=006ccb04 EFLGS=00010202
EBX=43ab4d14 SS=0197 ESP=0118503c EBP=01185040
ECX=00000000 DS=0197 ESI=006ac2fd FS=2e8f
EDX=013f13e0 ES=0197 EDI=01184f10 GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
3d e4 12 dc 00 00 0f 84 aa 00 00 00 8b 55 fc 52
Stack dump:
01310078 0118512c 006cc7d3 011850e4 0067726a 00000001 00000000 00000000 00000000 3f800000 43ab4d14 83c3f4c8 83c3f3cc 83c3f354 83d3e23c 83c3f27c

FF7 caused an invalid page fault in
module FF7.EXE at 018f:006ccb0d.
Registers:
EAX=c2c80cd2 CS=018f EIP=006ccb0d EFLGS=00010286
EBX=01080000 SS=0197 ESP=0118503c EBP=01185040
ECX=00000000 DS=0197 ESI=81908966 FS=1b37
EDX=015b4e20 ES=0197 EDI=00000000 GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
00 00 00 8b 55 fc 52 a1 20 10 dc 00 50 e8 22 1b
Stack dump:
01520078 0118512c 006cc73f 01080000 07fc7e8e 00000001 00000000 00000000 00000000 3f800000 000000ca 0118fe28 baae6fd4 07fc7e8e 00000000 38000000

Sephiroth 3D · « **Reply #9 on:** 2002-03-07 20:32:00 »

Where you running any kind of mod such as Fice's MP3 player or something? Where EXACTLY were you in the game when you got that error, and what did you do to get it? Or was it evil and gave you that error when you booted the game up?

Fice or Saint should be able to help you after you answer some of these questions, if they can't help you already.

Sephiroth 3D

"I don't understand..." "You don't have to understand." - Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Sephiroth 3D.com
[email protected]

TongitzKing · « **Reply #10 on:** 2002-03-07 21:16:00 »

I just installed FF7 (full install) and also installed the nvidia patch for it.

I get those error messages almost anytime in the game. At first I thought it kept crashing at the part where you're at Don.. whatever (the pimp guy) house and you're crossing-dressing and stuff. But I got passed that and now it crashes at any random point of the game :s.

And I've been getting those error messages for the last week or so now. So bla bla bla

Sometimes the game crashes to the desktop and I get an illegal operation for Kernel.exe. But I can't view the details because my computer freezes.

thanx.

SSJ4_Flash · « **Reply #11 on:** 2002-03-07 23:18:00 »

hmmm... a Kernel error?

Correct me if im wrong, but Kernel errors are most fequent when the motherboard Bus is setup wrong, isnt it (seriously, CORRECT ME IF IM WRONG). By any chance have you recently upgraded your processor or motherboard without fomatting and reinstalling windows? I was actually warned to be sure and do that when i upgraded my mobo and chip

TongitzKing · « **Reply #12 on:** 2002-03-07 23:57:00 »

Well the illegal operation message just had "Kernel" in the title bar so I assumed that it was the windows kernel whatever. But FF7 did install a couple kernel.bin files.

Anyway, I have the latest drivers for my motherboard and I haven't upgraded it in 3 years.

thanx

Darkness · « **Reply #13 on:** 2002-03-08 02:07:00 »

i think its pretty safe to assume that the windoze kernel is not the problem.

Sephiroth 3D · « **Reply #14 on:** 2002-03-08 02:27:00 »

I'd try re-installing over the old copy of FF7. If you still get the error, remove FF7 and reinstall. If it stil doesn't work, you might want to consider reformatting your HD and reinstalling Windows & FF7. But that should be a last resort.

Sephiroth 3D

"I don't understand..." "You don't have to understand." - Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Sephiroth 3D.com
[email protected]

TongitzKing · « **Reply #15 on:** 2002-03-08 02:56:00 »

pfft :laugh:

That was actually my first decision.

Well my computer was mass crashing and confusion anyway so I did that before I installed FF7. I've also installed and re-installed FF7 about 3 times now.. soo....

Quote

Stack dump:
01520078 0118512c 006cc73f 01080000 07fc7e8e 00000001 00000000 00000000 00000000 3f800000 000000ca 0118fe28 baae6fd4 07fc7e8e 00000000 38000000

I then changed the "Spare Stacks" setting to 24 (it was previously 16) and now I don't get anymore illegal operations (for now anyway). But, instead, FF7 just crashes to the desktop now. **NEVERMIND** -_- (yup, i just got one of those illegal operations)

If it helps: I have the Platinum PC version of FF7. Maybe it's even more incompatible... ?

oh well whatever thanx

[edited] 137 2002-03-08 14:39

phaeron · « **Reply #16 on:** 2002-03-09 03:01:00 »

FF7PC is definitely buggy (I like how they claim the crashing at the Chocobo race is due to an incompatibility with Windows 2000), but if you're playing with the NVIDIA patch, you should check how much swap you have available -- I think Eidos recommends at least 350MB of virtual memory (physical + swap) for the NVIDIA workaround mode. FF7 is probably the only Direct3D game that uses OpenGL to convert textures.

Direct3D has a exception handler for full-screen mode, so sometimes when a D3D game crashes, you get the silent drop to the desktop. I can't get FF7 to run more than 30 seconds in W2K without crashing, really.

The SaiNt · « **Reply #17 on:** 2002-03-09 05:35:00 »

FF7PC ran well on my former copy of Win2k
On WinXP, only the FF7 1.00 works for me, the TNT exe doesn't work for me. (It crashes to the desktop)
Nevertheless, I use the TNT configuration program to enable direct3d acceleration.

TongitzKing · « **Reply #18 on:** 2002-03-11 19:46:00 »

I have 256 MB of physical memory, and I have about half a gigabyte of hard drive space for the swap. I think that's enough

.

I've tried just using software rendering but it's too slow

. And I had the same situation as with FF8 about a year ago, but thanks to you guys you fixed it. Anyway, I would just play the game in software rendering mode but the game still crashes. oh well...

Goku7 · « **Reply #19 on:** 2002-03-12 01:46:00 »

Quote

On 2002-03-08 23:01, phaeron wrote:
FF7 is probably the only Direct3D game that uses OpenGL to convert textures.

Huh??

Wait, I thought D3D and OpenGL don't get along! So, would you mind explaining how it invokes OpenGL without causing a humongous flaming-blue-screen-of-death crash?

phaeron · « **Reply #20 on:** 2002-03-12 03:50:00 »

My guess is software OpenGL (GDI unaccelerated). There's no doubt that OpenGL is being used, though, if you look at the imports for ff7.exe. I think I remember some people having problems with the NVIDIA patched version due to a missing or bad GLU32.DLL.

The SaiNt · « **Reply #21 on:** 2002-03-12 05:55:00 »

I can confirm that FF7 runs OpenGL.
I can't tell you why I know though.

ficedula · « **Reply #22 on:** 2002-03-12 08:52:00 »

Correct; FF7.EXE *does* link into the OpenGL libraries. However, I've monitored it while in-game and it doesn't seem to call any of the normal functions ... but if it was just using it to do texture conversion then it wouldn't.

Actually, as far as textures go ... I suspect they're using gluScaleImage, which is a GLU function to - surprise - resize an image to a size the video card can accept. That function, I don't believe OpenGL has to be initialised, so you can call it even from an app that doesn't touch OpenGL for anything else.

Just my thoughts, anyway....